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What if the ARG does not reach $100k?
BirdNest
Member Posts: 3
Sorry if this is answered somewhere, but despite looking through FAQs and skimming over all the threads in both forums, I was unable to find out what happens if this ARG does not reach 100k. As much as I'd like to pledge and support, I'm just not really comfortable with 1) pledging to something that might not even reach its goal, and 2) pledging to something with such a strangely tiered pledge system; if this ARG truly wanted money, it would be allowing multi-pledges. There's absolutely no reason for how it's set up now.
Comments
If it does not reach its goal before the deadline, we will likely be refunded what we pledged - with a 2.5% cut if we pledged thourgh PayPal.
You can pledge multiple pledges, you simply cannot upgrade one pledge to another, as most pledges contain one or more items that are unique to that tier.
If you have, for example, opted for the Normal Subscription pledge, but want the TBW related bonuses from the Advanced Subscription, you will either have to:
1. pay the entire price for the Advanced Subscription, or
2. contact customer support at support@division-66.com, and ask them to refund the Normal Subscription pledge, after which you can then pledge for the Advanced Subscription.
However, removing the Normal Subscription also removes the Black Watchmen or Slaughterhouse hoodie for TSW bonus, which isn't included in the Advanced Subscription, where you get the TBW Soldier Uniform for TSW.
You are, however, free to pledge for all of the individual pledges available; so you can for example buy both the Hoodie, Nail-polish, and ID-card stretch-pledges, as well as both the Normal Subscription, Advanced Subscription, and Dedicated Virtual Mission (DVM) basic pledges. In the latter case, however, the "difference" will come down to the unique bonuses of each pledge; so the Black Watchmen or Slaughterhouse hoodie for TSW granted by Normal, the Soldier Uniform for TSW granted by Advanced, and the Cyber-mage Uniform for TSW granted by the DVM.
I did the latter exactly because I felt the Advanced Sub would fit my playing better, Div 66 was prompt, friendly, and made the process easy.
The pledge system is not what most people are used to, since kickstarter has become the most popular/well-known webpage for crowdfunding. The way TBW is set up allows for much more freedom than the typical tiered system, where you can choose only what you want instead of paying for convoluted bonuses . The only thing that this system doesn't offer is an easy upgrade from one subscription tier to another because of how crowdtilt is set up, but this can be resolved simply by contacting support.
As far as pledging goes though, the beauty of crowdfunding is that it is all people pledge what they feel comfortable pledging. You have absolute control over the amount you give, whether that would be nothing or $15, $30, $75, etc. So that's up to you, but, of course, every bit helps bring the project closer to success!
A.K.A. nikel
If the project does not reach it's goal, the money is refunded.
"Add to this, that any pledges - as far as I'm aware - will be refunded, should the fundraiser fall through, and not meet its goal. Just keep in mind that PayPal will take 2.5%, which is their doing, not Human Equations."
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1085/view/forums/thread/412531/page/1
While it's good to know that we get refunded if it isn't successful, I'm more worried about it simply not being successful. It sounds like a lot of fun, and admittedly, though I've never done anything like this before, I'm really looking forward to participating. There doesn't seem to be much time left, and if it's still 50k off of the target, ugh.
Don't like sounding negative, it would just be a huge shame. It's good that there are so many people dedicated to throwing their money at the project, shows it has a strong following amongst those that have pledged at least.
I really hope it pulls through, like a few end-stage/final-day kickstarters. I'd hate to miss out on something that sounds this good.
Couldn't have put it better myself.
I think it's primarily the hurdle of explaining a new genre to people that's to blame - or at the least, one of the main culprits. It's akin to trying to explain a yet-to-be paradigm - or, say, a new colour. You can reference every previous paradigm or colour, but in the end, you either give the listener an image of some odd, less-than-appealing amalgamation of colour, or a void, completely lacking in colour.
Other game genres could usually overcome this with a demo of some kind; something that neatly showcases the new colour in a small, focused package. Yet in the case of ARGs, such a feat isn't as straight-forward. A large part of the "gameplay" is community driven - it's not half as fun playing without the community around, nor the possibility of seeing your actions affecting the game"world", but that's the only current - official - option; replaying the pre-launch ARG. There are, of course - thanks to the community, DaedaIus in particular - alternatives, such as the what you might find here, that might be more interesting, by way of not only being more newcommer friendly, but also done as a slow-burn, for lack of a better term.
Oh well, here's hoping. I know that if - or when, I'd rather say - they implement the Super Pledges, I'll throw some more money at HE.
You will be fully refund, with the - 2.5% exception of paypal, but that wont be the end of it. We will continue trying to make this game come true.
So you'll keep trying to get this thing funded even if the first one doesn't work? Won't you guys lose out on all the TSW Grandmaster benefits from people that applied? (Assuming you got any, I figured you got like a $5 'gift' for every GM that registered?)
I'm glad that it won't be given up on, though. I'm just worried that if it doesn't succeed this time, barring those of us that have already pledged, it'll be harder to do so a second time around because Funcom/TSW might not be willing to try a second time with all the Grandmaster email stuff.
The thing is, though, the TSW Grandmaster idea might have been detrimental to the chances of the game coming to fruition, seeing as the main source of people familiar with HE's ARGs, would be coming from TSW, and that the TSW GM pledge effectively gave them the "Normal Subscription" for free, plus an exclusive mission down the line - which may be part of why there are so many opt-ins, but only half the backers.
Getting the remaining backers to pledge what amounts to less than a modern day AAA-game in price ($40), and just slightly above the average pre-DRWM pledges, for a game that gives far more play-time and interaction than any AAA-game title, would bring us well within reach of the goal ($1,660 to go).
If I may be so bold to say, Human Equation can keep what I've donated and use it to fund the next incarnation of BW should this campaign fail. I willingly offer my full support, little as it is, to the project and Human Equation.
Why? Because true believers go the extra kilometer.
Actually, if I had the 100K I would have just wrote the check for the project to go ahead. Sad face.
Wow thank you.
Hi!
To be honest the first thing we will do is to analyzed what went wrong. We have some data to crunch, both in terms of who pledge what, what worked and what didn't and finally, if we come back, what type of support we can expect on a platform like Kickstarter for example.
There is also other options, namely a publisher that could get behind us and fund part of the project. For example, we reach out to Cirque du Soleil, as we think this more then just a game. It's the future of entertainment. We will keep trying to find a partner that also believe in it as much as the players actually believe in it...
From a business point of view, we have close to 400k of game mechanics, code and backend done in the last 7 years, a 100k investment may be a not so bad investment.
And no, we don't plan to retry a email blast. As Santiak explained, the GM / Funcom email blast didn't create the engagement we were expecting and I think a second one will be just a waste of resources for both of us. Maybe we need to take it more slowly. Create more content and showcase more experience of the game then plan for a kickstarter.
Lot of option in front of us. But we don't plan to drop The Black Watchmen at our first try, I mean, we still manage to raised 50k.... Maybe we are too soon for such a game in the current market.
Wow... If we could find a partner that believe in the game half as much as the player do, we would be ok.... Thank you for such a statement of confidence.
That said, I am legally obliged to refund you.
I guess, looking at it presently, $50k is not that far off of a 'kickstarter goal'; if the ARG had more coverage and was on a more commonly-known site like kickstarter, it would probably be closer already, and inevitably, towards the end (whether it's about to break the target or hit a stage-goal), it tends to approach it faster in the final few days/hours.
As far as I know, there hasn't been all that much advertising or promotion for this outside of TSW and its emails (with a podcast or two) and that promoted by the community of TBW. Unfortunately I'm not at all knowledgeable about advertisement, but trying to get it promoted on a popular youtube gaming/celebrity channel or two might help, and give it a little more recognition.
Sorry I can't be of more use, I expect that sort of thing has already occurred to people anyway. :P
On the subject of TSW Grand Masters, even though I am one I've paid for pretty close to everything I can afford. Sadly I don't have a good enough job to go for either the real life mission or the Full James.
I can't speak for the other Masters but considering I went all in on TSW as well I kind of feel like those who are not "true believers" and thus didn't go as far in as they could go financially are more like posers who have no business snagging the free sub.
That being said, if there is a round 2 for this maybe try something less financially damaging? Like a unique uniform or naming options, symbols etc. Through I confess one thing that drew me into the dedicated VM wasn't even the dedicated mission but just to see what kind of results my psyche test would reveal.
Just as a query should I spring for the cyber-mage outfit? What with the mark being so far off I am left wondering if we would be better served for me to bank the money for the next round?
I don't think people who have already contributed to the pledge, even for $5, are those who are to blame. I'm still a bit surprise that around 1200 GM were okay to subscribe but didn't want to make effort to pay.
I can't speak for anyone and of course I did pledge on top of being a GM so this is not the case with me. However a guess may be that prior ARG's were always free. Despite being told this is to be persistent ARG there has been very little information about how often content will be released. Some folks may have been hesitant to buy the cow when they got the milk, as it were.
While the information is out there, I agree it does require some digging to get to - although it being an ARG community, I'm surprised that'd be a hindrance.
20 - 80 hours of gameplay per "Generation" - that is to say, 3 months. That, of course, does not include missions grinding to a halt as the entire community watches the proverbial paper waft in the wind, trying to figure out the next step, playing around with the Companion App, or working on side-projects and far-fetched notions that might ultimately pave they way for the solution of a mission, or the discovery of a new one.
Or, in other words, 80 - 320 hours of gameplay per year, at its most conservative. I could multiply that many times more just going from my own activity with the community outside any active ARG - granted I might be somewhat over-dedicated, if not to say over-zealous - but that's still quite a lot of game-time, with quite an awesome community, and an unbelievably involved Dev team, for less than a AAA-game - which is all TBW would need from the yet-to-pledge opt-ins in order to succeed ;o
Crowdtilt shows me 10 days left in fundraising.
A.K.A. nikel
I know you have your reasons to do it on Mmorpg rather then Kickstarter.
But isn't it an option to try and gather the last 50k from Kickstarter, and not talk about a second try?
It's making me depressed, I need this to start.